Certified Coding Specialist - Physician-based

Exam Preparation Information

• Exam Specifications
• Exam Content Outline
• Cognitive Levels
• Sample Questions (PDF)
• Exam Scoring/Passing Scores
• Recommended Resources

Exam Notice

Beginning June 2, 2009, candidates must bring the 2009 versions of ICD-9-CM Volumes 1 through 2 (volume 3 is allowed), CPT, and the HCPCS National Level II coding books to the testing center. Only the American Medical Association CPT code book is permitted. A medical dictionary is optional.

Candidates without the required codebooks will not be permitted to test and will forfeit their application fee.

• List of Allowable Codebooks
• CCS-P Recommended Resources

Effective October 15, 2009 CCSP candidates will received immediate scoring upon completion of their exam.

» top «

Exam Specifications

Multiple Choice: Part I consists of 60 four option multiple-choice items (50 "scored" items, and 10 pre-test items). Pre-test items are unscored items that are included in the examination to assess the item's performance prior to using it for operational use in a future examination. The pre-test items are scrambled randomly throughout the examination and do not count toward the candidate's score.

Medical Record Coding: Part II requires you to perform diagnostic (ICD-9-CM) and procedural (CPT and HCPCS Level II) coding for physician services. A total of sixteen records from the Hospital, Emergency Room, Operating Room, and Physician Office/Clinic settings will be used. The sixteen cases will consist of:

• Six cases from the E/M chapter of CPT
• Six cases from the Surgery chapter of CPT
• Three cases from the Medicine chapter of CPT
• One additional case chosen from the remaining chapters of the CPT book and HCPCS Level II

The total testing time for the exams is four hours. You cannot return to Part I after beginning Part II of the exam.

» top «

Exam Content Outline

A certification examination is based on an explicit set of competencies. These competencies have been determined through a job analysis study conducted of practitioners. The competencies are divided into domains and tasks as shown in the PDF below. Examinations test only content pertaining to the following competencies.

• CCS-P Exam Content Outline (PDF)

» top «

CCS-P Resources

Please click on the link below to view AHIMA's Recommended Resources:

• CCS-P Recommended Resources (PDF)

Every test question on AHIMA's certification examinations must be referenced to a valid, credible, and current resource. AHIMA's construction committee members and item writers most commonly use the following:

• Hazelwood, Kuehn, Venable. CCS-P Review Guide. AHIMA Press (Link)
• Brown, Faye. ICD-9-CM Coding Handbook with Answers. AHA Press (Link)
• Coders' Desk Reference. Ingenix. (Link)
• Coding Clinic for ICD-9-CM, American Hospital Association (AHA) Press.
• CPT Assistant. American Medical Association (AMA). (Link)
• Hazelwood, Anita and Carol Venable. ICD-9-CM Diagnostic Coding and Reimbursement for Physician Services. AHIMA Press. (Link new edition expected July 2009)
• Kuehn, Lynn. Procedural Coding and Reimbursement for Physician Services: Applying CurrentProcedural Terminology (CPT) and HCPCS, 2009 edition. AHIMA Press. (Link)
• Principles of CPT Coding, American Medical Association (AMA).
• Principles of ICD-9-CM Coding. American Medical Association (AMA). (Link)
• The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. 17th edition. Merck Research Laboratories

» top «